Will You Still Love Me?
by eiahmon
Summary: Sequel to Heirloom and Where We Belong. Xehanort takes on a new challenge - the piano. Along the way, he learns to put his old life on the islands well and truly behind him.


**A/N: Helloooooo, everyone. I'm back again with the third and final installment of the Heirloom trilogy. Lita wasn't interested in writing this one, so this one is all me. Enjoy!**

Xehanort wandered aimlessly down the castle corridors, bored, and wondering what to do. It had been just under a week since he'd spend three days sleeping in Master Limahl's bed, fighting a blazing fever that had left him delirious and suffering from nightmares and hallucinations, and he still felt a bit wobbly and weak. For that reason, Master hadn't let him return to training just yet (though he still had to attend the book lessons in the afternoon, ugh...), and it left him feeling a bit restless.

 _I can't complain to Master about being bored though._ he though sourly. _He has one cure for boredom – chores – and I don't want any more of those._

He stopped in the middle of the hallway and grumbled to himself for a moment. Too restless to sit still, too tired to run around outside, it was driving him insane.

 _I can't even complain to Eraqus about it. He'll either tell me to ask Master for something to do, or he'll tell me that it could be worse. I know it could have been worse. If Master hadn't gone back for my Wayfinder, who knows what would have happened, but..._

He sighed and let his shoulders slump. He didn't remember being sick – something that he was glad for – but Master had admitted that if the fever hadn't broken when it had, he would have taken him to the hospital in Radiant Garden for care. He'd already been there once before, right after Master had taken him in, he'd had to go there for a checkup (And hearing that doctor casually list off his malnutrition, stunted growth, and general ill health from his foster parents' neglect had been so _humiliating_ to him then.) and he had no desire to go back there. There was no privacy in a hospital, and years of being the target of everyone's scorn, whereupon his every action was watched and commented on made him treasure his privacy.

He was finally coming to understand that the neglect and abuse he'd suffered hadn't been his fault, that he'd been a child persecuted for things beyond his control, but the ghosts of the past couldn't be shrugged off so easily. He still fully expected for Master Limahl to decide that he didn't want him anymore and throw him out of the castle, and every time he and Eraqus had a disagreement, he waited for him to renounce their friendship. It hadn't happened, but a part of his heart whispered that it _would_ eventually, so he'd better be prepared for it, so it wouldn't hurt as much this time.

He slid down the wall to sit on the polished wood floor and closed his eyes. Master didn't know it, but the night he'd hugged Xehanort after he and Eraqus had been caught in the library with No Name had been the first hug he'd had since... His friend's parents had hugged him in the months after the fire, assuring him that he was still loved and that he would always have them.

 _And look how that worked out._ The hugs stopped, the kind words stopped, and they'd begun to show less interest in him. His school work was praised less and less, they'd stopped buying him clothes and toys. Then they'd stopped talking to him unless it was to scold him for something. _Two years after swearing to love me as their own, they shoved me out the door into a stranger's hands right after school, saying that they didn't want a dangerous person like me in their house any longer._

He'd cried all the way to his new home, and he hadn't stopped until he'd cried himself to sleep that evening. He'd been sent to school the next day like nothing had happened, and he'd been made to stay in from recess, because being suddenly uprooted was apparently no reason to not do his homework.

 _And that set the tone for the next five years. Moved from home to home, never being made fully welcome, and blamed for all manner of things that weren't my fault. I was their scapegoat when they needed someone to blame. Only their fear of Lord Xehanort prevented them from being worse about it._

"Xehanort?"

Xehanort scrambled to his feet and snapped to attention. "Master! I.. I.. I'm sorry! I was just.."

Master stepped up to him and gently laid his hands on his shoulders. "Easy, Xehanort, it's all right. Are you okay?"

He wiped at his eyes. "Yeah, I was just thinking."

"Hm," Master gently titled his head up so he could look him in the eye. "Are you sure that's not the only thing?"

"I..." He wanted to lie, to say that everything was fine, but he'd already figured out that Master Limahl had a piercing stare that made lying impossible. "I'm going crazy, Master. You won't let me go back to training, and I get too tired to do anything else physical, but I'm not tired enough to just sit all day."

"And why didn't you say anything to me about it?"

"Because I didn't want any more chores."

Limahl swallowed a sigh and tamped down the flash of irritation, especially since it was not Xehanort he was angry with. Once again the boy's upbringing shone through plainly, expecting to be punished at the slightest infraction.

"I'm not even making you do your regular chores at this time." he said as Xehanort pulled his head away and stepped back. "Why would you think that I would pile on more?"

Xehanort looked surprised by the question. His eyes widened slightly, and he tilted his head just a tiny bit, so little that Limahl doubted the boy even knew that he'd done it. "Because... that's what you always do when Eraqus and I complain about being bored?"

"How long have you been feeling restless? Since I let you out of bed?"

Xehanort looked down at the floor and nodded.

Limahl did sigh this time. "I feel like I should apologize to you then. A healthy child that has plenty to keep them entertained that complains about being bored is rewarded with more chores. I give more leeway to a child still recovering that has just enough energy to not sleep all day and little else."

"Then... what can I do? I don't think I can stand to even look at another book, and Eraqus isn't interested in doing anything with me right now."

Limahl thought for a second; there was one thing that came to mind immediately, but he wasn't sure if Xehanort would be interested. He'd tried to get Eraqus interested a few times over the years, to no avail. Still, it was worth a try.

"Come with me." he said as he ushered Xehanort down the hall and into the nearby doorway.

Xehanort blinked in confusion as he was walked into the music room. He'd been in this room only once, during his initial tour of the castle, and he'd stayed out of it since. The baby grand piano that was the room's centerpiece was very precious to Master Limahl, Eraqus had warned him, and he'd decided then to stay as far away from it as possible. That way, if something happened to it, Master wouldn't be able to blame him for it.

 _Not that that stopped anyone else..._

There were a few other instruments scattered about the room that had once belonged to previous masters: a violin, a flute, a guitar, some kind of drum, and multiple other things that Xehanort didn't recognize. He looked around for a bit before he realized he was being led in the direction of the piano, and he stopped.

Master paused and looked at him. "Xehanort?"

"I thought... I thought we weren't allowed to touch anything in here, Master?"

"Not without permission, no, but I am granting you permission for now."

"Are... are you sure.. that you want me near it?" Xehanort felt himself shrink back away from his master. _Stop doing that! He's not going to hurt you... right?_

"If I didn't want you near it, I wouldn't have brought you in here. Now, come."

Limahl led him over to the bench, which they stopped in front of. "Would you like to learn to play?"

Xehanort stared down at the keys for a moment before the question percolated through his mind, and he looked up at his master in surprise. "Me? Learn to play?"

"Mmhmm,"

"But.. but... _why?_ Surely Eraqus would be better -"

Limahl touched a finger to his mouth, silencing him. "I am not asking Eraqus. I am asking you. Would you like to learn?"

"I.. uh.. yeah, I mean, yes, yes, I would."

Master gave him a warm smile and lifted the lid of the padded wooden bench, took something out, and then sat down, before gesturing for him to do the same. Still hesitant, Xehanort carefully edged around it and gingerly sat down. He then looked at the keyboard, with all of those black and white keys, before looking up at Master Limahl. "Where do we start?"

Limahl chuckled to himself; he'd once asked Master Alexia the same thing when she had started his piano lessons.

"We start," he began, "with the basics. The keyboard, the musical scale, and how they correlate to each other. So, let's begin." He set the papers he had taken out of the bench up on the music stand, and Xehanort looked at it. He'd never approached Master when he'd been at the piano before, but he'd caught glimpses of the various things on the music stand, though he'd understood none of it. What Master had just put up looked similar, but much simpler. It showed a series of horizontal lines, grouped together in fives, with a circle drawn on each line and in the spaces in between.

"So there are seven basic notes," Limahl began, "A, B, C, D, E, F, and G." He lightly pressed down on the corresponding white keys around middle C. "They repeat over and over, across the keyboard, like so." He slowly went up the keyboard, pressing each key in turn. "See how the same notes land on the same position all the way across?" Xehanort nodded. "The left side of the keyboard contain the lower half, or the bass, of the piano's range, while the right side holds the higher end, also known as the treble. Now on the scale..."

Xehanort's head was spinning as he wandered back to his room an hour later. The few times he'd dared to watch Master play it had looked so simple, how could he have known that there was an entire interlaced web of things that went into reading and playing music? Notes, full notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, time signatures, measures. He'd never noticed before that the piano had three pedals on it, and it turned out that they had important uses too. And to top if off, he would only have one lesson per week, but in between lessons, he was expected to practice, practice, practice.

"It's going to be very boring in the beginning." Master Limahl had said as he easily played a piece called Waltz of the Flowers all without missing a single note, while Xehanort had watched in stunned silence, "but if you want to reach this level of skill, it's necessary."

Why had he agreed to this again?

 _Because, admit it or not, you want more than the teacher/student relationship you have going with Master. You want what Eraqus has with him, and maybe this is the way to get it. You don't want a teacher, you want -_

"A father," Xehanort whispered to himself, and he squeezed his eyes shut as his heart twisted in pain. What did he think he was doing? What was he playing at? Master would turn on him eventually, just like everyone else had done, and no piano lessons could prevent that. There would be no happy family here. His chance for one of those had gone up in flames years ago. Not even Lord Xehanort had -

"Xehanort?"

For the second time that day, Xehanort found himself caught by surprise, and he yelped as he skipped backwards a few steps. His eyes flew open to see Eraqus standing there, looking at him in confusion.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine!" Xehanort tried to ignore how his voice came out as nearly a squeak and hoped that Eraqus wouldn't say anything. "I'm fine! You just startled me."

Eraqus just looked at him for a moment. "I was wondering if you want to go play a game of chess or something?"

Yes, chess. Chess would be the perfect thing to deflect his thoughts from the direction they'd been taking. "Yeah.. sure. That sounds great."

Eraqus gave him a strange look. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"I said, I'm fine. Now let's go. I still owe you for that defeat you handed me last week." He then strode off in the direction of the library, trying to leave the conflicted swirl of emotions behind him.

 **OOOOOO**

Surprising himself, Xehanort did return to the music room every day. Master had given him permission to be at the piano any time during his free hours to practice, and he'd also warned him that he was expected to practice every single day.

"An occasional break is fine." Master had said. "And your training and book lessons are higher priority, but unless you're ill or injured, I want you in here at least an hour per day. If you start skipping out, I'll stop the lessons. I'm not going to waste my time if you're not truly interested."

And Master certainly had been telling the truth when he'd warned him that it would be very boring at the beginning. Scales, playing them over and over, certainly were not fun. Necessary, but not fun. Learning to read sheet music was also not the most thrilling activity, but again, Master insisted that it was needed.

Still, as he walked into the music room for his next lesson to find Master already waiting for him, and the man greeted him with a warm smile, maybe he told himself, it would be worth it. Something to enjoy while it lasted.

Because he knew that it wouldn't.

"When did you start to learn, Master?" he asked during his fourth lesson: simple pieces for him to play, (Was that really him making those sounds?) and the first appearance of flats and sharps. Talking to master made him miss a note, and he scowled and started over.

"Not long after I came to live here." Master replied as he gave him a reassuring smile. ("You will make mistakes, Xehanort, but that is how you learn, so don't stress over them.") "Master Alexia had taken me to simply get me out of a bad home, so she wasn't sure if I was suitable as a keyblade apprentice, or even if she would be able to teach me. A student has to trust the teacher if they are to learn, and I didn't trust her at all at first."

Xehanort's fingers paused; how he wished he could play and talk at the same time, like Master could. "Like I didn't trust you?"

"Very much like that, yes. I wandered in here one day by accident, and she found me running my fingers over the keys and asked if I wanted to learn. I said yes, and things went from there."

Xehanort reached the end of the piece. "When did she finally make you her apprentice?"

Master smiled at him in approval at his work, "Well done, Xehanort." and Xehanort felt his heart warm at the praise. He didn't think he'd ever get enough of it. "To answer your question, a few months later. Music allowed us to start forming something of a bond, and it was in here actually that I had that breakdown in her arms that I told you about. She assured me that I wasn't going anywhere, that this was my home. I found out years later that she _had_ been looking into finding me another home just in case things didn't work out between us, but it was then she decided that she was going to keep me for herself. We performed the Inheritance Ceremony the next day." Master smiled again. "That's all for today, Xehanort. Run along now."

Xehanort stood up from the bench. "Thank you, Master."

Master stood up from the bench and ruffled his hair, a gesture that, Xehanort was coming to understand, meant affection. "You're welcome. Now shoo, go outside and run around before dinner."

Xehanort scurried from the room, but as he moved down the halls as fast as possible without actually running, part of him wanted to turn around and go back. He stopped then, as he realized that he was actually _enjoying_ the piano lessons, and he was looking forward to his practice time tomorrow. A smile spread across his face at the thought, and he quashed the whispers that reminded him that it wasn't going to last. No, it probably wasn't, but he would enjoy it while he could. With that thought, he continued on his way to the entrance hall. Maybe Eraqus would be interested in some friendly sparring before it got too dark outside.

 **OOOOOO**

"I never expected you to be interested in piano lessons." Eraqus commented during one of their chess games a few weeks later.

Xehanort shrugged, not willing to admit that he hadn't expected it either, but now he looked forward to each new lesson, and he enjoyed practicing, even if it was pretty repetitive at times.

"Master's been wanting a music student for ages, you know." Eraqus continued, and Xehanort looked at him in surprise.

"He was? Why didn't he teach you then?"

It was Eraqus' turn to shrug. "I didn't want to learn. I like listening to music, especially when Master plays, but I never wanted to learn myself. He tried to get me interested, but I didn't care."

"I'm surprised he didn't take any students from the town then."

"I don't think he wanted random children running in and out of the castle, not to mention he'd have parents hounding him for lessons for their little darlings." Eraqus rolled his eyes.

"Has that happened before, I take it?"

"A few times. Most people gave up after he's told them no once or twice, but some have been pretty persistent."

"I'm surprised he'd want a student at all then, in that case."

"He's up there quite often; you just didn't notice because you tended to stay away from there. I practically lived in the music room when I was little. I even had a toybox up there, so I could keep myself entertained while he played." Eraqus moved one of his pieces, which put Xehanort's king in check. "Master loves music, and now he's sharing that with you." Eraqus looked up at him with a smile. "You're making him very happy."

Xehanort blinked at him, at a loss for words. Instead he only used his bishop to take out the knight that was threatening his king. "Checkmate."

"What!" Eraqus bolted upright and stared at the board. "How did you manage that?"

Xehanort didn't answer. He slipped down off the ledge that they were sitting on and quietly left the room, his mind awhirl with questions.

 **OOOOOO**

"Ring the tuning fork again, Xehanort." Master instructed, and Xehanort nodded, striking the small steel fork against his knee before placing it the rounded bead at the bottom against the piano's case. The tone resonated against the wood, allowing him to hear it clearly. Master lightly pressed the A key that was above middle C. "Do you hear that?"

Xehanort frowned in thought and struck the tuning fork again to get another listen. "It sounds... off in some way."

"That is exactly right. The piano has fallen out of tune, due to heavy use and constantly changing temperature and humidity."

"How do we fix it?"

Limahl smiled at Xehanort's use of "we" It pleased him to no end to hear it, and he was grateful to have such a willing student. "With these." he said, holding up a tuning lever and felt dampers. "The lever is used to adjust the tension of the strings to get them back to where they should be. The felt is used to mute the strings we don't want to hear, so we can focus on one of them at a time."

"Because each key has multiple strings, right?"

"Most of them. The lowermost ten keys have one string each, while others have double strings, and the majority have triple. Now, I can usually tune this piano without the fork, something that I will endeavor to teach to you as well, but it's always good form to have a tuning fork tuned to A 440. Sometimes even your ears can get it wrong."

"I might not be able to learn to do that? Why not?"

"No, and it's nothing against you. Some people just never get the hang of it. Master Alexia couldn't, but her father could, or so she told me."

"Is he the one that taught her to play?"

Limahl placed the felt dampeners around two of the strings, leaving the third to vibrate freely. "Mhmm, he's the one who brought this piano here – somehow – after he married her mother. I'll need to find out how they accomplished that, in case I ever have to move it. Hit the fork again, Xehanort." He pressed the key again, listened, and used the tuning lever to make a slight adjustment to the tuning peg. "Again, please."

Xehanort listened as Master adjusted the tension on one of the strings. "That's it." he said after a few minutes.

"Indeed it is. One string down, 239 to go." He looked up at Xehanort with a smile. "Ready to work?"

Xehanort nodded eagerly. "Yes, Master."

"Let's get busy then, shall we?"

 **OOOOOO**

Xehanort eagerly made his way to the music room, the new sheet music he had picked up in another world tucked under his arm. The piano appeared to have been a common instrument even before the keyblade war, so there were several of them scattered across the various worlds. Most of those worlds used the same, or similar, methods of writing music as well. It made it easy for him to keep plenty of music on hand. It was three years after Master had begun teaching him to play, and he still felt a thrill of excitement every time he sat down on the bench.

Master had also given him singing lessons too – he'd never known Master could sing – but Xehanort rarely did so, preferring the sound of the piano over his own voice. Master had told him with a laugh that his voice would have members of both genders flocking to him if he used it in public. That had only reinforced his desire to keep his voice – as beautiful as Master said it was – to himself. Years of any attention being the negative variety back on the islands had made him uneasy of other peoples' eyes on him. He still refused to play in any place but the privacy of the music room, unlike Master who would occasionally play for others in public places.

The little whisper in the back of his mind, the part of him that expected rejection at every turn, had quieted. It hadn't shut up completely, and he wondered if it ever would, but it was much easier to ignore. Despite his fears, Master hadn't thrown him out, and he never once had felt that he was unwelcome. Twelve years after losing his parents, five years after being shoved into a strange man's arms and told to never come back, he finally felt secure, finally felt at home.

And he had one person to thank for that.

Master Limahl looked up and smiled at him as he walked into the music room. "Welcome back, Xehanort. How was the trip?"

"Short, and rather boring, but I found more sheet music."

Master laughed quietly. "I think you love music more than I do sometimes. Come over here, and show me what you've found."

Xehanort tried not to appear too eager as he crossed the distance to the piano and arranged the music he had found on the stand before sitting down. The pages were old, yellowed, faded and nearly impossible to read in some places, with notes smudged out or blurred from water damage. Here and there, words were legible, appearing to be lyrics, but most of them were too faded.

"Where did you find this?" Master asked.

"A tiny old woman was selling sheet music. She had this along with several others piled up in baskets. Some were crumbling to pieces, while others looked like they'd just rolled off the printing presses. I glanced over them for a few minutes, and then this one just seemed to be the one to get." He shrugged. "No idea why I ended up with it."

Limahl looked over Xehanort's shoulder at the rippled pages, noting the places where the printing was heavily smudged and smeared. "This is going to take some time to sort out. I wish we could read all of the lyrics."

"The ones I can see make it seem like the song's about someone asking someone else if they'll always love them or something along those lines."

Limahl smiled faintly, though Xehanort couldn't see it; he could guess why'd he grabbed this particular song. "It certainly seems that way." he agreed. "Well, let's see what we can do with this." He moved to sit on the bench beside Xehanort, and he smiled again when, for the briefest moment, Xehanort leaned his head against his shoulder before sitting up and focusing on the music in front of them.

 **OOOOOO**

Xehanort sat slumped down on the bench, the fingers of his right hand idly pressing down softly on random keys. The room was dark; the sun had set, and he hadn't bothered to raise the lamps. He shouldn't be in here, he told himself, he should be out celebrating, no doubt like Eraqus was doing, but he just couldn't muster the enthusiasm needed.

Master had chosen Eraqus over him.

He had known for years that one day, once they had passed the Mark of Mastery, Master would chose either himself or Eraqus to be his successor and heir. He'd assumed at first that it would be Eraqus; after all Master Limahl had raised Eraqus from a small boy, while Xehanort had been the sullen teenager foisted on him by uncaring foster parents. But... as he'd grown and settled into life at the castle, he'd hoped that maybe it would be him.

Well, apparently not. He closed his eyes and sighed as his heart constricted. He shouldn't be taking this so hard. He was 20 years old. He'd passed the Mark of Mastery! He was a Keyblade Master now! He'd proved all the islanders wrong by making something of himself! But instead of being filled with joy at the occasion, he only felt... empty.

 _It's because you hoped that it wouldn't happen like this, but let's be real. You were always second to Eraqus, and you always will be. You were forced on him by people that didn't want you, and he was too nice to tell them no._

He shivered and silently willed the whisper to be quiet, though he agreed with it. What had he been expecting? And why did he even care? It wasn't important. So what if Master had chosen Eraqus over him?

 _Because I had really wanted it to be me. Choosing me meant that it hadn't all been an act, that it had been real, that I wasn't just an unwanted child foisted off onto him. Now I'll never know for sure._

"I had to choose Eraqus." came Master's soft voice from behind him then, and he flinched as footsteps approached him from the door, followed by a pair of hands coming down to rest on his shoulders. "I know that you're hurt and disappointed, Xehanort -"

Xehanort throught about denying it, but he kept silent. Master wouldn't believe him if he did, anyway.

" - but I chose Eraqus for a reason. That reason was not to hurt you."

"Then why?" His voice was barely a whisper.

The bench creaked as Master sat down on it beside him, straddling it to better look at him. "Because I wanted you to have your freedom." he said, and Xehanort looked up at him in confusion. Master gave him a faint smile.

"You are free, Xehanort, free to come and go as you please. You are no longer bound to obey my rules and orders. If you want to leave tonight and stay gone for years, then you may do so; I cannot tell you no. Eraqus, on the other hand, is only slightly less restricted than the two of you were before. The castle is still mine, and he must obey my rules, my orders, and though he does not need permission to leave, he must tell me before he goes, and he cannot stay away long. He will go where I tell him to go, do what I tell him to do, and he must stay nearby in case something happens to me, so he will quickly be able to take control of the castle and the waypoint it guards." Master leaned forward to look straight into Xehanort's eyes. "I knew that you would agree if I had named you as my heir, that you would stay here and do as I bid. But I also knew that you would hate it. You would chafe under the restrictions placed upon you, and those restrictions will not ease once I am gone from this world. Eraqus won't have me ordering him about any longer then, but he will still not be able to stray from the castle for long. It is why I never took the two of you away for more than a day or two at a time."

Master sat back and looked at him for a few moments. "You told me, when you were lying in my bed, recovering from your fever, that you wanted to see all the worlds. I have given you that. You don't have to leave if you don't want to. I am not throwing you out. This castle will always be your home, but if you wish to see all the universe has to offer, then I have granted you full permission to do that, with no limits."

"Is that truly why...?" Xehanort asked, his voice trembling slightly, even as he berated himself for it. He wasn't an unwanted, neglected child anymore. This shouldn't even be bothering him.

"Yes, I swear that it is. I knew that it would upset you, not being chosen, but I also knew that keeping you here would have eventually destroyed you. I couldn't ask such a thing of you. Eraqus will thrive here, and you can go see all there is to see out there."

Xehanort closed his eyes and took a steadying breath, and he was surprised when he felt Master's arms come around him in a familiar embrace.

"No matter what happens from here, no matter how far you go, even when you're an old man at the end of your life, you will still be my son. Don't ever forget that. I took you into my home willingly with open arms, and it was a decision that I have never once regretted."

Xehanort leaned into the embrace as the constriction of his heart slowly eased. "I love you." Master whispered, and the pair of them sat in silence for a few moments before Master let go of him and sat up.

"Eraqus is waiting for you. You should go and join him. The two of you have something worth celebrating."

"Yes, Master." Xehanort stood up from the bench and waited for Master Limahl to do the same. "We can't start without you either though."

"Then we should get down there. I believe that there's a cake down in the kitchen waiting for us."

"Master?"

Master Limahl turned to look at him, and Xehanort took a quick step forward and wrapped the man in his arms. "Thank you." he said quietly. "Thank you for everything. You saved me then, and I don't think I've ever thanked you for it."

"Thanks were never necessary, Xehanort. Seeing you now, miles away from that neglected child I brought home seven years ago, is thanks enough."

Xehanort smiled and squeezed him tighter for a second before releasing him, and the two of them walked out of the music room together.

 **OOOOOO**

Eraqus met him in the entrance hall. "Thank the skies you made it in time." he said with a relieved sigh.

"I made straight for here once I received your note." Xehanort said as the castle doors closed behind him. "How is he?"

"Not well. I was worried that you wouldn't get back before he..." Eraqus choked on the words and took a moment to compose himself. "He's up in bed. He's been asking for you for a few days now. Go on up."

Xehanort didn't have to be told twice. He took off at a brisk walk towards the main staircase, and only years of being scolded for running in the castle prevented him from doing just that. The climb to the master suite had never seemed to be so long, and when he stepped into the cold, dark living room, the sight of it made him shiver. Master's belongings were still scattered about on bookshelves and tables, but they clearly hadn't been touched in quite a while. With a thought, Xehanort brought up the lamps, but even the extra light failed the give the room any hint of the warmth it once held.

The door to the master bedroom was firmly closed, and flickering light shown through under it. Xehanort knocked quietly, but there was no response. Only the fact that he could clearly sense Master's heart prevented him from thinking the worst as he turned the handle and opened the door.

The room was almost stifling hot. The fireplace against the left wall was blazing with the largest fire Xehanort had ever seen in it. The windows were tightly closed with the curtains drawn over them to block out any draft that might seep through from the cold outside. The room's couch, the same one that Master had slept on while Xehanort had recovered in the bed, was dragged as far away from the fireplace as possible, and had a blanket and pillow neatly stacked on the end of it, showing that Eraqus was sleeping up here.

The bed, against the middle of the opposite wall, was thrown into sharp relief by the roaring fire, and the shadows of its frame danced across the wall on the right and the door into the master bath. There was a familiar figure lying in the middle of it, buried under multiple quilts and blankets, with only long, wispy gray strands of hair visible lying across the pillows. Xehanort felt a moment's reluctance to move closer, but he shook if off and let his feet carry him across the room.

Master was lying there on his right side, facing the fire. Advancing age had not been kind to him, even in the few short years since Xehanort had seen him last. His face was thinner, his skin was paler, and wrinkles seemed to have carved pathways around his eyes and mouth. He sat down as softly as possible, not wanting to wake him, but Master Limahl's eyes immediately flickered open despite his care. His eyes were still that impossibly deep blue, and they brightened noticeably when they looked at him.

"Xehanort." he said with a smile, using a voice that was barely a whisper, nothing like the commanding tone he had once had. "You're here."

"Of course." Xehanort replied as he reached out and gently brushed a few strands of gray hair that had come loose from the tie out of Master's face, "I came as fast as I could."

Master shifted, and two withered arms, the knuckles of the fingers swollen with arthritis, reached out from under the blankets to him. "I've missed you so much."

Xehanort leaned down and let the man hug him, and he placed a gentle kiss to the wrinkled forehead before he tucked him snugly back under his blankets.

"Are you staying?"

"Yes," Xehanort nodded, "I'm staying."

Master smiled again. "Good." he said. "These hands can't play anymore, and Eraqus still won't let me teach him. Maybe with you here, I can finally hear some good music."

Xehanort laughed; he knew the real reason why Master wanted him to stay. "Anything you want." he finally said after a moment.

"I trained you well. Now I want you to get me out of this bed. Eraqus won't let me up – says it's too cold for me in the rest of the castle. It's still my castle, and if I tell you to take me to the music room and play something for me, then you have to do it."

Xehanort smiled again, while trying not to let his real feelings show on his face. "Of course."

"And if Eraqus gives you any grief over it, you can just tell him I ordered you to."

"Yes, Master."

"Well, let's go then. I've had enough lying around for a while." Master reached out to him, and Xehanort tugged him out from under the blankets, noting how he shivered with a chill, even in the heat of the room. He cradled him in one arm and used his other hand to tug the topmost quilt over before wrapping him in it.

Master made a small "Mmmm," and Xehanort felt his heart suddenly constrict. Gods, he was so _light._ The quilt seemed to weigh more than him.

"Don't be like that, Xehanort." Master said quietly, and Xehanort blinked at him in confusion. "I can see the look on your face." He closed his eyes and settled into Xehanort's embrace. "We all knew this would come eventually. I've had a long life, and other than the first ten years of it, it's been a good one. You and Eraqus were the best things to happen to me, even more so that getting found by Master Alexia."

"I don't want to say goodbye." Xehanort said as his throat began to close up.

"I know, and I wish I could spare the two of you of the pain that's coming, but I'm tired. My hands are nearly useless to me now, so much so that Eraqus has to feed me. He also has to carry me everywhere. I can't bathe or dress myself. I don't want to keep existing like this, and I can't ask either one of you to devote so much time to caring for me."

"I would do it."

"I know you would. But you have your life to live, as does Eraqus. You have worlds to see and things to learn. Eraqus has a world to look after and apprentices of his own to find. So do you, for that matter."

"Me? Find an apprentice? I can't see that ending well. I don't know how you mustered up so much patience to deal with us."

"I did it because I loved you both more than anything else, that is how."

"But I'm not you."

"Of course you aren't. You are yourself; no one else. You'd be surprised what you can do when you love someone that fiercely. I once told Master Alexia the same things that you're telling me now, and look how it all turned out." Master opened his eyes and gave him a faint smile. "Now, enough of this sappy talk. You were taking me down to the music room, I believe?"

Xehanort laughed, though the sound had a slightly hysterical edge to it. "If that is what you want."

"It is. I'm sure you've found some new music out there that I haven't heard."  
"Some. I also found a complete, undamaged copy of that song I brought home years ago, the one that had part of the music and lyrics smudged out."

Master's eyes lit up. "Really? I certainly want to hear that then. Well, what are we waiting for?"

Xehanort laughed again and stood up, cradling his master securely in his arms. "Eraqus is going to kill me."

"No, he won't." Master said as they started towards the door. "This is still my castle, after all, and I -"

" - ordered me to, but he's not going to see it that way."

"You let me handle that. I've been away from the piano too long, so I don't care how cold it is in there. There is a fireplace in there too, and it shouldn't be any trouble for you to light it."

"Fire magic has its uses."

Master laughed, and he rested his head against Xehanort's shoulder as they walked down the stairs towards the music room.


End file.
